Kenneth Furphy (28 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. Despite being on the books at Everton between 1950 and 1951, Furphy was a lower league player with

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

(1951–53)

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

(1953–62) and then

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

(1962–64). He was selected to play for the Third Division North representative side in 1954–55. In 1964, as Workington's

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, he led them into the Third Division and left to become player-manager at

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

where he remained for several years, winning promotion to the Second Division for the first time in the club's history in 1969, and reaching the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

semi-final a year later. He moved to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

as manager in 1971 for two seasons before being announced as the new manager of Sheffield United on 9 December 1973. Despite financial difficulties due to the building of the new South Stand, he led United to sixth place in the First Division; a 0–0 draw away to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

on the last day of the 1974–75 season left them just one point short of a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

place. However, the following season started disastrously with just one win from 11 games and his contract was terminated on 6 October 1975. Furphy left for America to manage the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

(1975–76) in the NASL. He also coached the

Miami Toros The Miami Toros were a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League (1968–1984), North American Soccer League from 1972 to 1976. The club was founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts, and moved to Miami, where they played the ...

(1976–77), the Detroit Express (1977–80) and the Washington Diplomats (1981). He has also managed the national team of Bermuda and the Cleveland Force. During the 2000–01 season he was appointed as technical director of Exeter City, to help then manager Noel Blake as the club battled against relegation; this tenure was short-lived, and he left the club after just six days in the job. He also worked for BBC Radio Devon's sports department, commentating on local football matches. He coached his son, former NASL and MISL player Keith Furphy, while both were in Detroit. Furphy died on 17 January 2015 in a care home in

Dawlish Dawlish is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Teignbridge district in Devon, England. It is located on the south coast of England at a distance of from the city of Exeter and a similar distance from the to ...

, where he had dementia.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Furphy, Ken 1931 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Everton F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Darlington F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Watford F.C. players English football managers Workington A.F.C. managers Watford F.C. managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers Sheffield United F.C. managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen